New enterprise research released by Cornerstone OnDemand Inc. reveals that while AI-driven transformation has made workforce readiness a top board-level mandate, a persistent operational disconnect between HR and IT leadership threatens organizational agility. According to The Board’s New Mandate to CIOs and CHROs report conducted with Vanson Bourne across 2,000 IT leaders, HR leaders, and employees organizations where CHROs and CIOs co-own workforce readiness respond to labor shifts 13% faster and are 67% more likely to make agile decisions, yet only 35% of decision-makers currently collaborate on AI strategy and fewer than half work toward shared goals. This misalignment results in lingering skill gaps (50%), delayed restructuring decisions (44%), and missed productivity targets (41%), even as 65% of workers report meaningful changes to their daily roles and only 17% feel fully prepared for future shifts. Addressing the strategic imperative for shared governance, Cornerstone’s Chief AI Officer, Guna Jayaraman, stated:
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“The organizations making progress bring workforce and technology decisions together from the start, rather than trying to sort out alignment after decisions have already been made. CIOs and CHROs need a shared view of current skills, changing roles and future needs so they can make decisions faster and with more confidence. For most organizations, workforce information is spread across systems that don’t talk well to each other, if at all. AI can help connect those signals, but only if it gives leaders one clear view of their workforce, shared priorities, and the ability to act on what they see.” Echoing the urgency of bridging fragmented planning frameworks, Cornerstone’s Chief People Officer, Carina Cortez, emphasized: “CHROs are being asked to keep talent moving at the pace of technology, and that’s becoming harder to do with fragmented data and disconnected planning. This is now a board-level mandate because workforce readiness is measured by how well organizations adapt as work changes and how quickly employees can succeed in new realities. Employees will embrace AI when they understand how it will improve their work and when they have the support to adapt.”
